User:Aaprieto/sandbox

The Tennessee river has historically been a major highway for riverboats through the south and today they are still found along the river in abundance. Major ports include Guntersville, Chattanooga, Decatur, and Yellow Creek, and muscle shoals. Navigation has contributed greatly to the economic and industrial development of the Tennessee Valley as a whole. The economies of cities like Decatur and Chattanooga would not be as dynamic as they are today, were it not for the Tennessee River. Many Companies still rely on the river as a means of transportation for their Materials. In Chattanooga, for example, steel is exported on boats, as it is much more efficient than moving it on land. Locks along the Tennessee River waterway provide passage between reservoirs of more than 13,000 recreational craft each year. The Chickamauga dam, located just upstream from Chattanooga, is currently planned to have a new lock built, but the project has been delayed, due to a lack of funding. The river not only has many economic functions, such as the boat building industry and transportation, but it also provides water and natural resources to those who live near the river. Many of the major ports on the river are connected to a settlement that was started because of its proximity to the river.